Medicine Hat Tigers' goaltender Beckett Langkow slides to his right to make a save in the Tigers' 5-4 preseason win Saturday at Co-op Place against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.--NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers continue to ride high in preseason action.
The Tigers came back from a 2-0 deficit Saturday to win 5-4 over the Lethbridge Hurricanes at Co-op Place, putting them at 2-0 in the preseason.
Associate coach Joe Frazer says it was encouraging to see the resiliency in the game and how the Tigers held on to a lead late.
“It stems back to last year, the second half of the year, the belief that we can find ways to win,” Frazer said. “No matter what the score is, what point of the game it is, we have a chance to come back on teams, so that was great to see. Obviously we need better starts but it’s great to see us get through some adversity and come back on top.”
After the Hurricanes’ two goals in the first 10 minutes of the game, the Tigers answered back with forward Brayden Boehm’s third of the preseason. Defenceman Josh Van Mulligen and forward Shane Smith recorded assists on the power play marker.
The 19-year-old Boehm says the early offence is a confidence booster for him heading into the season.
“It’s huge rolling in the regular season, just showing off everything you’ve done in the summer and all that work you put in is paying off,” Boehm said. “It’s super nice to have that continue in the regular season.”
Cayden Lindstrom scored early in the second period to tie the game up before the Hurricanes added their third of the game in the last five minutes of the frame. The Tigers answered with a goal from the second youngest player in the lineup, when 15-year-old Markus Ruck scored on a power play for his first goal at the U20 level.
Markus, who is older by eight minutes than his twin brother and fellow Tiger Liam, was all smiles after the contest recounting his goal and getting into WHL games. Both Rucks played in the Tigers’ two preseason games against Lethbridge, both wins.
“It’s a great feeling, obviously there’s a lot of bigger, stronger guys in this game so there’s a ton of competition but I thought we handled it well and played our best,” Ruck said. “Scoring your first goal in the WHL, it’s preseason but still, it’s a really cool feeling. The boys made me feel special.”
He says he has the bragging rights over his brother with the goal. Ruck ended up on the power play due to a veteran being in the box and he made the most of his opportunity. Frazer was happy to see the young Tiger capitalize as he did.
“Markus has been on the half wall his whole life, so we threw him out there and it’s just great to see him score that first one,” Frazer said. “Both of them were good, it was a way faster game tonight than Tuesday, a lot of their veterans in and so did we. It’s a quicker game and it’s just great for them to get to experience that, so now they know what it’s all about.”
Van Mulligen scored with 21 seconds left in the second period to give Medicine Hat the lead. They added to it halfway through the third with a goal from 16-year-old Hayden Harsanyi, who was the only 2007-born player wearing a cage after taking a puck to the mouth in practice Friday.
The Hurricanes scored late in the third but the Tigers held on to sweep their mini-preseason series against the Highway 3 rival, following a 7-3 win Sept. 5. Across those two contests, nine of the Tigers’ 12 goals came from players who were in the lineup full-time last season. That continuation of offence is encouraging, Frazer says, as they get closer to opening night on Sept. 22.
“Again, stemming back to last year, the second half, a couple of guys got more and more confident and we expected and hoped guys would have great summers and come back,” Frazer said. “When you look at our veterans, you can tell they trained pretty hard and they want it this season.”
The Tigers head into the week with their final preseason games set for Friday at Co-op Place against the Swift Current Broncos before heading to Swift on Saturday for a rematch. Before then, the Tigers will need to trim a preseason roster that was at 36 heading into the weekend. Frazer says they’ll watch tape on the first two games and work on concepts and structure with practice continuing to ramp up.
He enjoys being back behind the bench at Co-op Place with the Tigers’ faithful cheering them on.
“I thought it was awesome, the fans were great tonight and it was a really good turnout for a preseason game,” Frazer said. “We appreciate all their support and hopefully we can keep getting more and more here throughout the year.”
